


Letters to a Profiler

by tecca_ec



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Emily likes women, F/F, F/M, Mutual Pining, Penelope and Derek get together because its only right, Slow Burn, Smut, its only slow burn because of the letters, jj isn't bitchy in this, jj likes women, letter writing, mostly emily, pen-pals, well smut eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:42:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29456181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tecca_ec/pseuds/tecca_ec
Summary: Spencer Reid has always struggled with making friends outside of work and ever since he lost Maeve, making romantic connections became incredibly difficult. In an attempt to open back up to people, he listens to his coworker to try and get a penpal. Not expecting to fall in as deeply as he does with his.✎     ✎     ✎"Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart."Winnie the Pooh
Relationships: Emily Prentiss/Original Female Character(s), Penelope Garcia/Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid/Reader
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	1. info

✎ ✎

While writing this I picture season three Reid and BAU team, but it takes place in a more present time. Even though Maeve would be more in the past for Reid at this point, he is still dealing with the emotional effects of the situation.

✎ ✎


	2. one

_ “After all, I can’t complain. I have my friends.” _

_ \- Eeyore, Winnie the Pooh _

  
  


You started your day trying to forget that you got desperate and made a pen pal profile last night. You’d assumed that whatever you drank last night would help you forget that it happened, but all it caused you to forget was where your keys were. ‘ _ Fuck me right?’ _ You kept searching every place that you believed drunk you would try and hide them. Losing all hope before you heard your roommate, Luna, clear her throat behind you. 

“I knew you were tipsy last night, but how did your keys end up in the bathtub?” She joked at you, tossing your keys on the dining room table. A sigh of relief and then you remembered how they got in there in the first place and it all started with the stupid letter writing crap. 

**You had just finished your second glass of wine, starting to feel a little out of it, but knowing that you were in control. You had also gotten up to grab your laptop and do some research on ways to make friends who share similar interests with you and ultimately felt defeated when most of what you found was joining clubs.**

**Then you found a pen pal match-up site. Something you thought was so stupid, but in your almost drunk state, you decided on one more glass of wine and to just set it up. The profile you made was incredibly simple. You just filled out the basic information and then some of your interests, not expecting anything to come out of it.**

**After the profile set up, you wanted nothing more than to just sit in your bathtub, something you hadn’t done since you were a teenager going through the motions. The bathtub will always be a safe place for you. You remember picking up your keys, but why you brought them into the bathtub is beyond you. You swore you tossed them under your bed, but you were wrong.**

“Thank you thank you thank you. I swear I put them under my bed. Just a weird day and night I had yesterday I guess.” A shy laugh. Luna shook her head a little bit and shrugged. 

“Don’t have to explain it to me, but I will say that I’m shocked I didn’t find you on the couch watching Forensic Files last night. That’s like your typical Friday night. Rough school day?” You scoffed as Luna made her way to the kitchen, pulling out leftover lasagna. 

“Rough is like scraping the surface. I’ve been this teacher’s substitute for like three months straight and the kids are just struggling. Plus the freakin’ principle has got his head so far up his ass, it’s insane.” Luna laughed under her breath then receiving a puzzled look from you. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just, I know how much those students mean to you, have you thought about trying to become a full-time teacher, the principal would have to listen to you a little more than, right?” She silently offered you a piece of lasagna, you silently declined. “This is your dream and I know that you’re supposed to have some down days, but the way this Mr. Hides guy sounds like a dick.” You let out a big laugh. She was right, he sucked so much, and honestly, if you didn’t like teaching so much you’d quit and never look back. 

“I’ve talked to him about it, but he’s absolutely positive the other teacher is coming back and until she says that she is going to leave, I’m just a substitute.” She scoffed but moved on once the microwave started beeping. She reached into the microwave, turning to you as she closed it again. 

“Look, whatever you choose to do, I’ll support you one hundred percent okay,” you nodded, reaching for your keys. “Also, I saw your pen-pal profile. That’s real cute, if you meet a cute boy, make sure he has a cute sister or something. I want a torrid love affair, it won’t always just be me and my lasagna y’know.” With that, you head out to the store for the night. 

In the car on the way to the store, you kept thinking about the pen pal site. You knew it was silly, but you had hope. You didn’t think that meeting people was hard, you were actually a people person, typically well-liked, you just struggled with meeting people. You used to tell yourself that it was because of school, but that wasn’t true. You met Luna during your second year of college through school and made a few of your other friends through the rest of the years, but ever since you’ve been teaching, making friends or going on dates was so difficult. You didn’t like dating apps. Never felt that you can get your feelings across through them. You didn’t really expect much out of this letter stuff, but hopefully much more than Tinder could get you. 

When you made it to the store you realized you didn’t really have anything in mind to get. Just knew that you didn’t want leftovers, but that you also shouldn’t overspend on food tonight. That’s when you made a quick decision to get fast food. ‘ _ Just once this week.’ _ You told yourself, pulling into the drive-thru, ordering, and then rushing home because caving to get fast food was one thing, continuing to just eat it in your car would make a sad two days worse. 

✎ ✎ ✎

Spencer’s morning started the way it usually does, with a call from Hotch. Fortunately, they didn’t have to fly out which was nice. The last thing he wanted was to be home late. By midday, he was sitting at his desk in the bullpen going through paperwork from a previous case. He was mostly zoned out today. Last night he couldn’t think straight, too many thoughts floating around in his head. He hated that feeling. It was like there was a storm in his mind and he couldn’t figure out how to clear it. A constant rainy feeling. Feeling incredibly unfocused wasn't good when working this job. 

Thinking about it made the feeling continue and he felt the beginning of a headache coming on. He began pinching the bridge of his nose. 

“Yo, pretty boy, you doing okay?” Morgan was looking at him, twirling a pen between his fingers, brows furrowed together with worry. Spencer looked up at him, blinking a few times to gain focus. Trying to suppress the storm even a little bit. 

“Uh-yeah, yeah I’m fine, just a headache. Long night.” A large grin then grew on Morgan’s face. Excited almost. 

“Ooooh...so who’s the lucky lady?” Spencer’s face scrunched up. “Or guy, hey! You know I don’t judge.” Spencer shook his head at Derek. 

“No, not that kinda long night,” Disappointment washed over Derek. “Just couldn’t sleep.” Spencer sighed, knowing that was only half of the truth. 

“Reid, man, you really gotta find yourself someone special. You deserve it.” Derek was being serious. The sincerity in his voice was close enough to make Spencer start tearing up, but Prentiss walking towards pulled him out of it. 

“What are we talking about over here? Hopefully something better than all this paperwork.” Reid gave her a small smile watching Derek lean back in his chair. 

“Trying to find our sweet genius here, a lovely somebody. Anybody.” Prentiss nodded, a big grin forming on her face. 

“This is going to sound crazy, but a friend of mine just got married to someone she met through some pen pal program,” Morgan scoffed in disbelief. “I know, but y’know Reid doesn’t do super well with tech, this could be nice for him.” 

“Do you have any facts to back this stuff up, Emily?” Emily shrugged. 

“Actually, in more recent times, writing letters to people has become quite popular. There’s plenty of sites offering to match people up with those of similar interests to write to, even for those in senior living or inmates in prison,” Morgan put his hands up in defeat. “The United States Postal Service sent out roughly 56 billion pieces of mail last year most of them being first-class mail and while that does apply to bills, a large majority of it is handwritten, or personal letters.” Emily laughed, motioning towards Reid. 

“Well, there you have it,” She picked a pen up from Spencer’s desk and took a sticky note. “This is the site. I know it seems techy, but it’s a genuine thing after the profile is set up. You never know, maybe through whoever you meet, there will be someone in it for me.” She nudged him with her shoulder.

“Prentiss, I like where your head is at here, good luck Reid, but I want in on that action too.” Spencer puffed air through his nose going back to focus on his work for the day. Still fighting the cloudy feeling. 

He stuck the note in his sweater pocket before he left for the day, saying a small goodbye to his coworkers as he left. On the train home, it was all he could think about. It was a risky choice for him. He’d been through something similar before and that didn’t end right at all, how could he be sure that this wouldn’t be the same. 

Spencer thought about it some more while he sat at his desk. He even borrowed one of the bureau’s laptops before he left, asking Penelope to run him through how to use it without messing it up, but he still wasn’t even sure that it was something that he wanted to go through with. After staring at the homepage of the site for what felt like hours, he made a profile. It was also just like that, that the cloudy feeling had faded away for long enough to let Spencer sleep. 

  
  



	3. two

_ “ A day without a friend is like a pot of honey without a single drop of honey left inside.”  _

_ \- Winnie the Pooh  _

_ Monday - 6:30 AM _

“Hey, Luna, have you seen my space shirt? We’re talking about the solar system today and I want to look like the lesson.” You popped your head into Luna’s room, doing a quick scan to check if she was there.  _ ‘Hm. I didn’t hear her leave this morning.’  _ You checked the fridge to see if she had left, but nothing. A shrug before moving on to continue getting ready for your workday. You unplugged your phone from the charger, reading a message from Luna. 

**_Luna ✨_ 🥺** _ \-  _ **_3:25 AM_ **

_ had an unbelievably early call today! should be home for dinner good luck classes :) _

You smiled thinking how funny it is that she always told you when she had to go. Luna was a paramedic and always on call. You used to hate it when things were first getting settled in your home, but you knew it’s what she loved to do just like when she helped you grade the student’s papers even after being awake for 16 plus hours. She was a gift sent from the great beyond and without you, you would still be a mess. 

Your drive to the school was the same as it was every day and all you were hoping for was that the principal would have taken a day off which would give you a chance to feel like you could breathe. He spent a lot of your time there practically hanging over you while you taught. In the beginning, it didn’t bother you much because you were new and parents got wary about the people teaching their kids, but he was so aggressively overbearing and you felt suffocated by it. When you pulled into the teacher lot, you saw just about everyone’s car, but Mr. Hides’ was missing and you did a tiny victory fist bump. You grabbed your work bag and papers before heading into the front office, stopping at Mrs. Nelson’s desk. 

“Oh, honey! I didn’t even notice you walk in. You gotta give a lady some warning, sweetheart.” You laughed, leaning onto her desk a little. 

“So sorry, Marie,” She shook her head. “Hides’s out for the day?” Mrs. Nelson nodded excitedly. 

“Yes, thank goodness. He called this morning saying he might have caught some kind of stomach bug.” She giggled as she said and you raised your brow at her. Marie motioned for you to lean in so no one else would hear whatever she was going to say. “If you ask me, I think Mr. ‘do good’ Hides got himself caught up in something. His behavior on Friday was really out of character and he left me a note on my desk that I just saw today.” She reached into her drawer pulling out a sticky note and handing it to me to read. 

_ ‘Something’s come up, just tell them I’ve got food poisoning.’ _

You handed it back to Marie, shrugging. 

“Hmm...so strange. That’s one problem to make this day better. I’ll see you at lunch.” She nodded and waved you off, checking your watch.  _ ‘8:00 okay good’  _ You were so caught up in just leaving that you hadn’t actually checked how early you would be. 

Marie Nelson was by far the sweetest person on the whole staff. She also was the biggest gossip so you knew for the most part that her niceness was just to get people to open up to her and it worked. She knew about Ms. Leigh’s pregnancy before anyone else all because she was a listening ear. It was incredible, but it also meant that you had to try and keep your own secrets to yourself. 

You flicked the lights on in the classroom and began setting up the things for your lesson of the day. The teacher you’ve been subbing for had some planet stuff laying around, but you spent the whole weekend making a model solar system for the kids. You remember fifth grade and the solar system unit was the best one. After setting everything up for the kids, you opened your laptop and opened your planets PowerPoint just to check it was okay, but a notification pulled you out of focus. 

**_‘New Match! Dr. Spencer Reid. Check him out!!’_ **

**_‘1 New Message!’_ **

And just like that, you felt anxious again. You were still so unsure about this site. You knew that for the most part that it was safe, but it made you so unsure.  _ ‘It wouldn’t hurt to just look through it’  _ You checked the time to make sure you would have enough time before students started piling in. 

**_Dr. Spencer Reid - 27_ **

**_Hello. I just need to make some new friends outside of work. Not really good with computer stuff but I’ll try just to get started on a friendship._ **

You huffed in frustration.  _ ‘That’s it. Aren’t you supposed to like to sell yourself on these kinda sites?’  _ And before you could try and do any additional research some students began entering the room. You stood up to greet them. 

“Good morning everyone! Today we are going to talk about the solar system.” There was an excitement that you could just feel coming off the students. 

✎ ✎ ✎

_ Sunday - 1:34 PM _

Spencer thought it’d be best to not obsess over his profile, but then he found out how to make it all work and was incredibly interested. He knew that being penpals with people wasn’t new, but most kids did penpals in elementary school, but he hadn’t realized how popular it was amongst adults. Garcia had shown him how to set stuff up but told him that he has to do the rest. 

During the weekend he browsed through some of the people, but he couldn’t stop his brain from profiling all the profiles he saw. He thought it was funny how people didn’t notice how much they gave away in profiles. The only problem was that he would also have to try and make one himself and when couldn’t he asked the only person he thought would have a handle on these kinds of things. 

**Friday - 1:45 AM**

**“Reid?” A groggy Derek answered the phone. “Are you alright, man? It’s damn near two in the morning.” Spencer felt guilty for a second before getting to the point.**

**“Um yeah I know, sorry, I just don’t know what to put on my profile and I just thought that y-you’d be the best to know.” Then Spencer could hear Derek shuffling on the other end. “You don’t have to get up, I’m so-sorry to wake you really.” Derek stifled a laugh.**

**“I’m not getting up, just moving around, but look, it's easy. Just put what you’re on there for. Getting straight to the point is how you do it okay.” Spencer nodded. “Okay, Reid?”**

**“Yeah, okay. Sorry again, goodnight.” Derek mumbled a small goodnight before hanging up. Spencer sighed, staring at the computer screen for way too long before typing up his bio and picking a photo that he felt would be presentable. When trying to find a photo he realized how he never had any pictures by himself. Always with his team members which he hoped wouldn’t draw anyone away from trying to talk to him. After making the profile he fell asleep on his couch. Exhausted from the fogginess in his head as well as trying to be a modern person.**

_ Monday - 9:30 AM _

Spencer spent all of Sunday alone, which wasn’t a new thing, but being alone meant being trapped with his thoughts. 

That’s when he went back to check on his profile, maybe someone had found him or maybe he could find somebody. When he opened the laptop he noted that it'd have to be the second option. He put in the interests tags every possible thing that he thought would help, but that proved to be not very helpful so he went searching for other people. He had noticed a few people that caught his eye, but one girl stood out from the rest and without even an ounce of hesitation he added her as a friend. The site prompted him to ‘say hi!’ so he tried to type out a message to explain to her who he was. 

**_‘Hello, I’m Dr. Spencer Reid._ **

**_I’m not really sure how to use all this stuff, but a friend from work suggested that I try this site out. She told me that writing letters seemed to be more my speed than online stuff. I noticed what you put about what you studied in college and just thought that I’d reach out._ **

**_I’d love to be able to start writing to someone soon, just really would like a friend to talk to.’_ **

Spencer would be lying to himself if he said that he hadn’t re-written that like ten times, but he had. This wasn’t like him. In fact, it was so in the opposite direction of who he felt like he was that he almost considered just giving up, but he couldn’t. Derek was right, he needed to get out more and maybe this wasn’t what he meant, it was good enough for Reid. After he sent the message, he felt his phone buzz. A text from Hotch. There was a case. Spencer thought it was odd for Hotch to a text saying they got a case, but he gathered his things and headed to the bureau. 

✎ ✎ ✎

_ Monday - 6:45 PM _

You were sitting on the living room couch, re-reading the message Spencer had sent to you. Trying to figure out your next move. You noticed that once you agree to be friends with someone you could see their address and you realized that he really didn’t live all that far from you. He put in the message that he wanted to start writing right away which you were apprehensive about, but you couldn’t blame the guy. You were so close to pulling out paper and a pencil, but Luna barging through the front door made you lose his focus. 

“You would not believe the day, or uh night, that I had!” She exclaimed, lugging in her duffel bag. You got up to help her bring her other bag in, closing the door behind you.  _ ‘Holy fuck this thing is heavy.’  _ “I got called in for some crazy car accident, but the night that it sent me on was insane.” You laughed, still struggling to drag her bag in.  _ ‘Maybe start working out idiot.’  _ She stifled a laugh and took the bag from you. 

“What happened?” She kicked her boots off, falling back on the couch. She was exhausted, you could tell that much, but she had that look on her face that she had every time she met a new girl. “You met someone?!” Luna scoffed trying to deny it. 

“How do you know every single time?” You shrugged.  _ ‘Maybe because you’re predictable.’  _ “I mean yeah I did, but it was insane. Because I had shown up with Matt right, but then BOOM the FBI shows up, and there she was. Absolutely stunning.” You sat down on the couch next to her turning to face her. Luna was lit up like a fucking Christmas tree. That was a rare occurrence even during her happiest moments. 

“Well, lovebug, what happened? Why was the FBI at the scene of a car accident?” Luna’s eyes got so wide you swore they could have popped out of her head. 

“I was wondering the same thing but turns out the car accident wasn't a normal accident at all. The person driving the car killed a bunch of people,” You scoffed at her excitement. You knew that she wasn’t excited about the people being murdered, but it was strange to see her so amped up after a shift. “Obviously it was terrible, but the guy was still alive when we got to the car and he kept telling me all these crazy things, so I had to stay behind to work on him and get questioned, but there was this agent. Emily was her name and she was something else. I swear she was flirting with me even though we were both on the job.” You furrowed your brow at her. 

“An FBI agent? Wow, Luna, you are something special. Got FBI women hitting on you at work. Did she give you a number or anything?” 

“Only her card if I can remember anything else, but I’m telling you, she was hitting on me.” You laughed, patting her knee lightly. 

“You keep telling yourself that, Lovebug, but maybe you should get some rest first,” She nodded groggily. “Maybe you’ll remember something else and get to call her.” Then sleepy excitement.

“Yeah, yeah you might be onto something.” She slowly rose from the couch, grabbing some water before disappearing down the hall and into her room. 

That left you alone with thoughts, some paper, and a pen. You began writing, just some simple stuff. 

  
  



	4. three

**A.N: This chapter will contain a brief description of crime scenes.**

_ “It isn’t much good having anything exciting if you can’t share it with somebody.” _

_ \- Winnie the Pooh _

  
  


_ Wednesday - 7:45 AM _

“That’s what you sent her?” Spencer sheepishly nodded. He had shown Derek the message in some sort of attempt to get advice, but ever since they got on the jet all Derek had done was lightly tease him about it. “Come on, pretty boy, this won’t do. You gotta try to start a conversation first. I know you’re new to this stuff, but I thought you’d know a little better.” Spencer opened his mouth to protest but closed it when he didn’t have a fair argument.

“What are you getting on him about now, Derek?” Rossi spoke, looking up from the case file. Derek turned the laptop to face Rossi. Spencer wanted to shrivel up with embarrassment. He would much rather be anywhere but on the jet having his internet skills ridiculed by the two men in front of him. Rossi began to shake his head. 

“No wonder she hasn’t replied,” Spencer raised a brow at the older man. “This message is so dry. Maybe I should try.”

“No!” Spencer and Derek said in unison, gaining the attention of JJ from her seat across the aisle. Rossi raised his arms in the air. 

“Fine fine, but I know a lot about getting the ladies. I could help.” JJ scoffed. 

“You know a lot about losing ladies, what’s the problem? This has to do with what Emily told me about?” Spencer nodded. 

“Morgan says my message to her was boring, but I beg to differ.” Right as JJ was reaching her hand to grab the laptop, Penelope appeared on the screen. 

“As much as I would love to come bearing news of puppies and kittens, another body has been found.” Emily sighed, coming in to hand Hotch his coffee. 

“Same as the others?” Hotch spoke. Penelope nodded as the team’s screens lit up with the crime scene photos. 

“Victim in the photo is a 43-year-old, Summer Blaine. She was last seen three hours before her body was found at her son’s football practice. That was around 3:30. Body found in her backyard,” Spencer flipped through the photos of past bodies trying to figure out what felt off about this one. “Her throat had been cut open, but her cause of death was blunt force trauma and there’s one other thing that wasn’t consistent with the rest.” 

“The unsub imprinted a name into her chest.” Spencer chimed in. Penelope shivered on the screen. 

“Yup. It was done before they killed her.” 

“Who found the body?” JJ asked, looking up from her files. 

“The son, a Jacob Blaine. He had just gotten back from a friend’s house. His alibi checks out.” 

“Have the police bring him to the station, we still need to talk to him.” Penelope nodded. 

“Will do sir.” The screen shut off. Spencer kept looking at the photos of the previous victims. The chest imprint wasn’t the only thing wrong with the scene. 

“Reid, is there something else?” Hotch asked him, trying to see whatever Spencer was seeing. 

“The other three victims were put in much more public places and seemed to have more of a posed position. The name in her chest ‘ _ Lucy’  _ doesn’t seem to add up with any of the other victims. This feels incredibly more personal. I feel like there might be something else on the body.”

“In that case, when we land Reid and Emily head to the M.E’s office. Derek and Rossi go speak with the son and JJ, you’ll come with me to the station. We’ll need Garcia to see if she can find a Lucy anywhere in Summer’s life.” Everyone on the jet agreed and continued to sit somewhat silently till it landed. 

✎ ✎

  
  


_ Wednesday - 11:30 PM _

Spencer shrugged his bag off his shoulder onto his floor, tossing his mail onto his living room table. The team discovered that the unsub was Summer’s son and his friend.  _ ‘Lucy’  _ was Summer’s sister’s name which the team later found out was the birth mother of Jacob. Him finding that out pushed him to kill the woman that raised him, all with the help of his closest friend. Spencer tried to see why they did it, but she knew that doing that would send him into a spiral. Something about trying to get inside the mind of a killer was always difficult, especially when the killers were two kids who almost got everything that they needed. 

Spencer sat on his couch both exhausted and wide awake. He lifted his mail and began sorting it, but one piece of mail caught his eye out of the rest. It was a standard envelope and he remembered the address as the pen-pal which made him feel relieved. He had spent a large chunk of his day thinking about the message. On the flight back home, JJ told him that she thought the message was fine and suggested that you might have been just busy. Spencer went with JJ’s explanation, not to discredit Morgan, but knowing that his way of things was much different. He smiled opening the envelope, pulling out the piece of paper, and began reading. 

**_‘ Dear Dr. Reid,_ **

**_I hope that it was alright to just write you instead of messaging back, looking back at it maybe that wasn’t the best idea, but I’m actually really anxious about this whole thing. My roommate thinks this letter writing stuff was cute and I’m not really sure how to write this. I’ll just start with a much more proper introduction than my profile I think._ **

**_I’m 26 and currently a teacher. I saw that we live relatively close and maybe if this all goes well, we could meet each other sometime. I’m not really sure what to write about myself, so I’m just going to write you questions and hopefully, you’ll write back with questions about me._ **

  
  


**_Are you a medical doctor? Wouldn’t it be funny if you weren’t a doctor at all or if you were a doctor and I run into you at the hospital or something? Hopefully, I’m not injured, but I can be quite clumsy sometimes._ **

**_You mentioned in you message that you saw we could have similar interest based on the small list of things I studied in school. I spent a lot of college kind of confused even though it was recently, but I started as an English major, then I took a lot of psychology courses before I figured out what I wanted._ **

**_What’s your favorite movie? Mines is probably Coraline, but I watch so many movies that there’s no definite favorite._ **

**_Do you have a genre of music you like? I listen to just about anything but recently got into classical or opera._ **

**_Favorite color? I love every shade of red. Even the obnoxiously bright shades, despite my sensitivity to bright things._ **

**_If you’re not a medical doctor, then what do you do for a living? Is it exciting? Do you love what you do? I already wrote that I’m a teacher and it can be really exciting. I love it so much, getting to make a change in children’s lives can be so comforting. Especially if it’s a positive one._ **

**_What are your thoughts on pickles? This question is important so think about your answer. I think pickles are great, but sometimes they can be too much._ **

**_What’s your favorite time of day? I love the moment when you first wake up and nothing matters but the fact that you’re awake and alive. I also like when the sun sets and the sky goes purple just for a moment._ **

**_Has anything exciting happened to you recently? Even if it was only exciting to you. I only ask because I feel like people don’t think about meaningful moments to them enough times. I feel it’s best to cherish every good moment for as long as you can because you never know what’ll happen next._ **

**_Well, I think that’s it for now. I’m really looking forward to doing this. I think it’s kinda sweet in a way._ **

**_Sincerely, y/n ‘_ **

Spencer read the letter three times, trying to linger on every cursive letter for as long as he could. She seemed so cheerful about something that most people felt was outdated. He stared at the letter smiling at how neat most of her handwriting was, but a lot of the areas where she wrote about herself were rushed. He laughed under his breath to himself and while he was tired, he still found the energy to pull out paper and write back. He wanted to be able to mail it out by morning. When he finished the letter, he sluggishly crawled into bed, smiling while falling asleep. 

_ Thursday - 8:30 AM _

Spencer struggled to get out of bed the next morning. He kept waking up, anxious about sending in his letter. Before he put it in the envelope to mail off, he read over it what felt like a thousand times. He worried that she would read his letter and not want to write back. Spencer just didn’t see himself as being someone likable to most people and he worried about it more than he liked to admit. He wasn’t used to trying to impress people. Typically it was whatever people thought of him was it, but this felt different. 

As he walked into the bullpen, Spencer noticed Derek, Emily, and Penelope all laughing amongst themselves, until Penelope and Spencer made eye contact. Penelope began a speed walk over to Reid, joining him in his walk to the desk. Spencer braced himself for her excitement that he could just feel radiating off of her. 

“Emily tells me you’re writing letters! To a girl! How could you not have told me that it went well?” Spencer shrugged, placing his bag on his desk. 

“Just one letter so far. I just couldn’t think about much else but starting to actually try and form a friendship first. Didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, ya’ know?” Penelope nodded, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a pen with a panda on top, handing it to Spencer. Spencer reached for the pen, furrowing his brow, looking down at her.

“Well, if it does go well, this fuzzy guy will help you write,” That’s when Spencer realized that the panda on top was soft. “I want to be in the loop. The BAU’s baby is finding love.” Penelope’s tone softened as she gave Spencer a loving smile. 

“Of course, Garcia. I wouldn’t know how to keep you out of the loop.” He chuckled, sitting down while Garcia returned off to her work. Spencer tried to focus on doing his paperwork all while trying to not overthink the letter he wrote, hoping that there wouldn’t be a case for a little while and he continued to try and work through his anxieties. 

✎ ✎ ✎

_ Friday 7:30 PM _

You grunted throwing your work bag on the floor, closing the door, and double-checking that it’s locked. 

“Luna, you home!?” You called out, tossing your keys onto the counter. Luna walked into the kitchen. 

“You look pretty beat, what happened today?” You threw your hands up in frustration. 

“Hides is still out and it’s been a fucking week, so the staff has been on edge,” Luna poured you a glass of wine that you gladly accepted. “The older students have completely taken advantage of only having to deal with the vice principal. Who in every way is the exact opposite of Hides, so the students could almost do anything. It’s been so exhausting this whole time. I know I’m not a fan of the man, but he needs to come back soon because I don’t know how much of this I could handle.” Luna laughed watching you chug the glass of wine before pouring you more. 

“That rough?” You scoffed. 

“Rough is just the surface, but uh-what about your day, did you get a chance to have to talk to your FBI agent again. Haven’t really seen much of you since Monday night.” Luna shook her head, taking a sip of her own glass of wine. 

“No, I never really remembered anything else of significance, but I hope they put the guy away for what he did. It’s a shame I couldn’t speak with her again, but if it’s meant to be then it’ll be.” Luna said with a much more somber tone than usual. You thought it was odd, but you considered that maybe she really felt a connection to this Emily person. Luna wasn’t much of a romantic in the time that you’d known her, but she really did believe that someday by some stroke of luck, she’d meet the love of her life. You wanted that for her. She worked so hard for everything else in life that you wanted her to find a soulmate with ease even if you didn’t really believe in soulmates too much. “Oh! I almost forgot. You got this letter in the mail today. From a Spencer Reid?” You perked up. Luna grabbed the letter handing it to you. A wave of anxiety washed over you.  _ ‘It’s just a silly letter’  _ you tried to tell yourself. 

“Thank you. It’s the pen-pal thing. I wrote him one Monday night, he actually lives pretty close so I knew that the mailing time would be short, but I didn’t think it’d this fast.” Luna smiled at you, softly patting the kitchen counter. 

“I’ll leave you to it,” You nod. “If I don’t get called in tomorrow night we should go out, get drunk, and forget the week.” 

“Oh my god, definitely, yes.” She smiled retreating back to her room. You studied the envelope, smiling to yourself at his wobbly handwriting.  _ ‘How cute?’  _ You were careful to open the envelope as if the paper would disintegrate if you weren’t gentle enough and began reading. 

  
  



	5. four

_“The things that make me different are the things that make me, me."_

_\- Piglet_

**_‘ Dear y/n,_ **

**_I’m glad that you wrote to me. I won’t lie to you though, the fact that you never messaged me left me in a panic, but receiving your letter was a relief. I’m anxious too. I’m used to writing letters, but you’re a stranger. My coworkers have been cheering me on to continue this. They think I’m lonely, but I’m okay with being alone sometimes. I do want to make friends though and that’s why I wanted to write to you._ **

**_I do worry that I might be too boring for you. Your handwriting tells me just a bit about who you are and I have to just assume that you have a more exciting life than me._ **

**_I’m 27, but you knew that already because I put it on my profile. I didn’t want to put my job on my profile, but I’m a profiler for the FBI, before you ask, yes I did profile your letter, but I wouldn’t have written back if something was amiss. Sometimes I do teach at a college nearby when I get a chance. I can agree with you on making a change in people’s lives through teaching._ **

**_No, I’m not a medical doctor so you shouldn’t have to worry about seeing me in a hospital. I’ve got three doctorates. I could tell you about them sometime. Maybe you could tell me more about what your college experience was like. Mine wasn’t as eventful, I’m sure, being 14 wandering a college campus can be overwhelming for other students. I’d be interested to hear about your favorite books._ **

**_I’m not quite sure that I have a favorite movie. I tend to watch a lot of foreign films or documentaries. I’ll be sure to check Coraline out._ **

**_Don’t listen to much music either. Which classical composer do you like the most? I’ve grown quite fond of Cécile Chaminade. Her piano pieces are nice to calm down to after a case._ **

**_I like to say that my favorite color is blue, but I’ve always loved deep purple. There’s something strong about it._ **

**_I think I like pickles. I’ve never thought about it much. If you like something enough there can never be too much of a good thing._ **

**_Our favorite times of the day are the same. That moment when you first open your eyes and there isn’t a single problem or worry is the best, especially working in the field that I do. I can’t say that I’ve ever witnessed that brief moment of purple, but now it’s something that I’m sure I’ll think about every time I’m out around that time._ **

**_I’d say that doing my job was exciting, but a mundane thing that I felt was more exciting, was receiving your letter. I re-read it so many times just trying to think of what I’d write back to you. It’s strange to admit, but this has made me more nervous than anything I’ve done in a long while. You could say I cherished the moment I read your letter the first time. Then I must have thrown so many crumpled pieces of paper away when I felt the start of the letter too rushed._ **

**_Introductions can be so difficult, even more so when we aren’t meeting face to face. I appreciate that you think this is sweet because I do too. I hope that we can become good friends because of this. I also hope that you never get bored of me.h_ **

**_Sincerely, Spencer’_ **

You read the whole thing with the largest smile you could. What you didn’t know is that Spencer re-wrote the letter several times, not wanting to come off too desperate or strange. What you didn’t know was that he’d tried to write the letter as more of a normal person as opposed to the way he truly is, but couldn’t truly get right there because, let’s face it, Spencer Reid was far from normal.

On the opposite end, Spencer didn’t know that you had already felt you could grow attached to the man who wrote the letter before you. You were blown away by the fact that at 14 he was in college while you were struggling your way through the ninth grade, trying to get Justin Lee to even notice you. It was bizarre to imagine yourself at 14 on your college campus even though if you were smart enough to get into college at 14, you’d probably have gone to a better school, but that has passed you. You excitedly rushed to Luna’s room after reading it to tell her everything. You gave her door a small knock, waiting for her quiet ‘come in’ before bursting in.

“I read it! I’m so excited! Luna can you read it and tell me if I’m being blindsided by excitement?!” You exclaimed, holding the letter out to her. She took the letter in hand, sitting on the edge of her bed, and scoffing before she even began reading it.

“He writes kinda wobbly,” You nod. “Sure he’s not like a child pretending to be an adult to meet girls or something?” You sighed over at her. She was mostly joking. You knew that, but it was mildly discouraging.

“I don’t think he’s a child. Doesn’t write like a child. Just read it...quickly please.” She took a deep breath and began reading. You didn’t have to see where she was at to know that she’d seen that he was a profiler for the FBI. Her face lit up, but she continued to read in silence, and then without making a noise she handed the letter back to you.

“Do you think he knows Emily?” You rolled your eyes, not blaming her for asking but finding it funny that it was the first question out of her mouth.

“I’m not saying it’s unlikely, but I’ve been by that building and it’s big. I doubt every agent knows each other.” You spoke calmly before your tone shifted to excitement. “What do you think though? Worth pursuing some more?” Luna nodded with a smile.

“I definitely think that you should keep writing to him. Besides the lopsided letters, he seems okay. This is going to be really good for you, I can just tell.” You approached her, giving her a tight hug. Whispering a small, ‘thank you’ into her ear. “But don’t let this keep you up, remember, partying tomorrow okay?” you nod.

As you prepared yourself for bed, you couldn’t help but imagine what Spencer’s everyday life was like, what kind of nightly routine he had, or what it was like working for the FBI. You knew it was ridiculous to think that being employed by the FBI was anything like it was on TV, but that’s all you knew. It seemed so exciting. Much more exciting than being a school teacher and you then began to worry that Spencer would get bored of you because of how uneventful your days were. Maybe he would get bored because you couldn’t exactly keep up with his level of smarts. You were smart, but for him to have been in college at 14, he had to be a genius, and that scared you. _‘Stop worrying, it’s fine. He wouldn’t have written back if he didn’t find you interesting.’_

You got into bed and re-read the letter a final time before falling asleep.

✎ ✎

The next morning, you were abruptly woken up to your phone ringing. You groaned as you reached out to answer it before checking the caller ID.

“Hello?” You heard rustling through the phone.

“Um-hey, I got up early to go jogging. I’m at the store and guess who I just saw?” Luna’s excitement practically jumping through the phone. You sat up, shaking your head in an attempt to shake the grogginess away.

“Who?” The sound of paper bags and her trunk closing.

“I saw Emily! Y’know, the FBI agent that probably works with your little letter boy.” You scoffed.

“Luna, that's really exciting, but did you have to call me about it. Couldn’t you just tell me when you get home?” Luna laughed.

“You were sleeping? It’s past noon dude, get up,” Your eyes grew wide as you looked at your clock _1:46 PM_. “And I could have waited, but in talking to her I asked her if by any chance she knew of a Spencer, and well, she does, but she had to go before I could ask her anything about him.” Then you were more awake than you’d ever been. As exciting as this was, you weren’t sure that you wanted to meet the guy yet. You’d barely had a chance to even learn more about him. Meeting him just felt too soon and the Spencer that Emily knows could be someone else. It’s not like there’s only one Spencer in D.C.

“That doesn’t mean it’s the same person, Luna.”

“Yeah, it does! I mean, you could be right, but then again what are the odds. Look you could meet him sooner if it’s the same person, but I’m about to drive home, see you when I get there, okay? Love you, bye-bye.” She hung up before you even had the chance to say anything else. You rubbed your face with your hands, deciding that it was probably best to get up. You considered writing your response letter first thing but knew that it could probably wait until a later time. You winced when your feet met with your bedroom floor. Having hardwood floors was convenient for cleaning, but cold mornings like this one made you curse Luna for convincing you to live here. You weren’t really planning on much, outside of going out for girl’s night,’ and even then those plans weren’t completely set in stone.

Seeing how late you woke up, you really didn’t want to try and make breakfast and settled on a bowl of cereal. While you ate, all you could think about was the small possibility that Emily and Spencer knew each other. Trying to look it up on your computer didn’t calm the nerves that were building up in you. You were right, there isn’t just one Spencer in the D.C. area, but there was just enough for you to see that the Spencer the Emily knows could be anyone. _‘This was supposed to make me feel better, fuck.’_ You closed your laptop, taking the last few bites of your cereal, just as you heard Luna unlocking the door.

“Oh, welcome home.” She smiled widely at you. Probably still excited about running into Emily at the store. You went to help unload the few bags of groceries she had brought home, trying to avoid the Spencer talk for as long as you could. “So, what kind of plans did you have in mind for us tonight?” Luna clapped her hands together.

“Okay so if I don’t get called in, there’s this new club a few blocks from the mall and I was thinking that maybe that could be fun,” You noticed her face scrunch up. “Or...we could continue the getting you to meet Spencer plan.” You released a loud sigh.

“Look, Luna, it’s not that I never want to meet the guy, but we barely know each other yet and with all the stuff that’s going on at school, it’s just not the right time yet.” Luna rolled her eyes, moving into the living room, falling back onto the couch. You weren’t lying to her about the school. Mr. Hides, being gone for most of the week, was starting to really weigh everyone down. Of course, Ms. Tiff, the vice-principal, was handling things, an unplanned absence like this from Hides was beyond unusual. He called every morning to give a list of things that should be done at the school, but couldn’t come in and none of it really made much sense.

“I know what you’re doing and it won’t work.” She pointed an accusing finger your way. You furrowed your brows at her.

“I’m not doing anything.” She shook her head.

“You’re trying to find every possible excuse out of ever having a chance to meet him ‘cause you’re scared. I can assure you that any man that you even give the time of day, is lucky,” You smiled at her. “Plus, the two of you could have a lot in common. The no movies or music thing might be hard to work through, but you love listening to classical music when you work on school stuff, so who knows?” She shrugged, hugging a throw pillow to her chest.

“I’m not scared, I’m cautious. What would you do if this was you and your FBI agent, huh?” Luna scoffed.

“I would have married her by now.” She joked, causing an eruption of laughter between the two. Picturing Luna married was always a funny thing between the two of you, not because it’s not possible, but because of how obsessed she was with the idea as a kid.

“Married, within the span of two weeks? Now you’re just being crazy,” You both sighed, completely calming down from your laughing fit. “But, what happened at the store with Emily anyway?” _‘Here we go again.’_ Luna’s face lit up, ridding herself of the throw pillow.

“Well, I was looking in the wine section and I had looked up to grab one of the fancy top-shelf bottles when I heard someone call my name and when I turned it was Emily. She had asked how I was doing and updated me on what happened with the case,” Luna was twiddling her fingers. It was something she did when she got too consumed by her thoughts. You noticed that sophomore year of college. “I suggested that we got dinner and she agreed, but got a call from work and had to leave before we even had the chance to exchange numbers.”

“Didn’t she give you her card?” Luna nodded.

“Yeah, but I think I lost it back at the station. Entirely my fault but, hey I think whatever’s out there might want us together, so we’ll see. I’m not trying to stress about it.” You could hear how this was getting to her. She always tried to be much stronger around everyone, even you sometimes, without even realizing it. You moved closer to her, pulling her in for a hug. She softly laughed, returning the hug.

“I think you’ll see her again and maybe then I’ll be ready to actually meet Spencer. Like a double date slash meet-up situation.” Luna nodded, pulling away from the hug.

“Exactly!” She pats your knee before standing up. “But for now, let’s just focus on relaxing till tonight, okay?” You silently agreed, watching her walk down the hall to her room. You looked over at the clock on your wall. _3:56 PM_. You hadn’t realized how time had passed since Luna had gotten home. Your talk about Emily had inspired you to begin writing your response to Spencer.

You thought that the process could become less stress-inducing with a glass of wine, but one mid-day drink turned into three and while it wasn’t really like you to day drink, you knew that you’d have to be the more sober friend at the club, so you took your chances. What you hadn’t thought about or prepared for was what you’d write and the fact that in your state, you put the letter in the mailbox before re-reading it to ensure that you didn’t over-share too soon. Something you’d have to think about another time.

Around nine o’clock was when you and Luna began getting ready, completely lucky that she didn’t have to go to work.

“Should I go with a ‘hoping to leave with someone’ dress or a ‘might make out with you in the bathroom dress’?” Luna called from her room. You shook your head, walking into Luna’s room, to see her options. _‘Those are practically identical.’_ “This darker red one is the bathroom dress.” You squinted, trying to tell the difference. Both dresses were tight-fitting red dresses, but the ‘hoping to leave with someone’ dress had thin straps while the other was strapless.

“Luna, those damn near the same dress.” She scoffed, throwing the strapless one down.

“My sweet friend, they send different messages. I’m going straps,” She headed into her closet, coming out with a pair of matching heels. “What’re you going to wear?” You shrugged.

“Probably the same dress I wore last time we went out.” Her mouth fell open in disbelief.

“Absolutely not. I know that you're hung up on this pen-pal guy, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t try and get some in between.” She made a valid point. You knew she just didn’t understand that you never fully get relaxed in a club setting, mostly going to spend time with her the way she likes to. It’s only fair with all the ‘boring’ stuff she does with you. Luna had gone back into her closet, pulling out a tight-fitting black dress that was similar to hers, but with some mesh detailing. She held it out to you and you reluctantly took the dress into your hands. “This is going to make you look so hot, trust me.” You smiled, wondering away to get changed. After the both of you were fully ready, you took an Uber to the club, not knowing the way the night was going to go. 


	6. five

**A.N: This chapter will contain mentions of being drugged and mentions of sexual assault.**

_“Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there someday._

\- _Winnie the Pooh_

_Saturday - 10:47 PM_

Luna was already tipsy once the two of you had walked into the club and now she was so close to being wasted. You had to admit that Luna was a fun drunk, flirty, but fun. Your buzz from the wine you had earlier had died down drastically which when you admitted this to Luna, her response was ‘oh no no no’ and practically dragging you to the bar.

As the two of you worked your way through the crowded dance floor. While you shuffled through all the people, you tried your best to keep your already short dress from riding up any further. Once you’d made it to the bar, you glanced at the bartender before returning your stare at all the people dancing. You always let Luna order your drinks, never actually knowing what to get. Luna just always knew what you’d like.

“Here. Chug this.” You took the cup from her and took a sip. “No, chug it.” You rolled your eyes at her, watching her chug down her similar drink. Another sip, deciding it didn’t taste bad, you lifted the cup all the way up letting the drink just fall down your throat, grimacing at the burn.

“Okay, now what?” She laughed, handing you another identical drink.

“One more and then we dance some more.” You groaned, knowing that she was just trying to get you to relax. “Oh my god! You just need to let loose a little bit.” You silently agreed with her, chugging the second drink down like it was nothing. Then with very little warning, Luna was tugging you back onto the dance floor.

The two of you spent the next ten minutes dancing amongst the crowd, never losing sight of one another until you started to feel the effects of the drinks. At least that’s what you thought at first, but things just started to get really fuzzy.

“Hey, Luna, I’m not feeling too well right now.” You just about yelled into her ear. Luna furrowed her brows at you then smiling widely.

“Like throwing up not well or getting drunk not well?” You shook your head, unsure of the feeling that was washing over you. You opened your mouth to answer before being interrupted by a brunette with sharp features, who by all counts, was not dressed for a club. _‘Who wears a blazer to dance?’_

“Luna?” Luna’s face lit up and you could just tell that the woman was FBI Emily. You could feel that your vision was starting to blur a little bit.

“Emily! Oh wow, what’re the odds?!” You grabbed Luna’s hand to hold yourself stable. Emily glanced at your hands before doing a quick scan around the club. “What are you doing here?” You took a moment to completely collect yourself and scan over Emily’s outfit. Black dress pants, black blazer, and a red shirt underneath.

“Technically working a case.” And if you weren’t already feeling pretty sick, the anxiety kicked in. You could hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears. You almost felt weightless and heavy simultaneously. Then your thoughts began to spiral. _‘Working a case means that Spencer could be here. Is there really a case or is this some weird plan? Not Spencer. Definitely not spencer. Stop.’_ Then there was Emily’s second glance at Luna and your intertwined hands.

“Well, are we in danger?” Luna questioned, locking eyes with Emily. You tried to keep yourself balanced without leaning on Luna too much.

“Not if I can help it,” Luna nodded, looking at you again for reassurance. Earning a nod for you. “I need you to get her and find your way to the bar. Try not to make a big deal out of the trip, if you can.” Then the three of you were like a train on the way towards the bar, with Emily as the conductor. You focused your energy on just being able to pick your feet up, but every step just felt wrong. All tingly. Your limbs felt like they were both loose and heavy. _‘Is this what being drunk was always like?’_ It’d been so long since the last time you were drunk and you were unsure if this was normal or maybe the new normal.

Once at the bar, you were more than happy that there was something to keep you up more than just Luna. Emily watched you pull your arm away from Luna and bracing yourself on the bar counter. Looking up, you noticed that the guy who gave you your drinks was gone. _‘Shift change?’_ Something unsettling hit you when you genuinely felt like you couldn’t see anything, squeezing your eyes shut and opening them over and over again until everything was more of a blurry mass. _‘Better, but not right.’_ You were too scared to speak, hoping that someone else would for you. Emily said something into her headpiece, Luna glancing at you.

“You alright? You got spacey. I know that this is a scary feeling but Emily is right there, we’re safe.” You quickly nodded. There wasn’t really a moment to ruin, but you felt like saying that you didn’t feel right would ruin the moment. “Emily, what’s the deal that’s going on?”

“It’s a little complicated,” Emily spoke without looking over her shoulder once. “Looking for a possible unsub. Hate to ask you this, but has anyone stood out to you two?” Luna shook her head and if you even had an ounce of honest consciousness, you would have too, but that was passed you. Now you were just staring down at the bar, counting the lights you could see reflecting off of the top of it. _‘20,21,23,14...no not right.’_

“Hey, lovebug, you okay? I know you said you were sick, but you really aren’t looking too hot right now.” Luna softly rubbed your back. Your discomfort showing on your face. Not because she was comforting you but because you were trying to figure out this feeling.

“J-just really really hot, dizzy.” Then without warning, Luna had your face in her hands, holding you steady and staring at you.

“What else? Cause I can see that you’re looking at me, but you’re not actually looking at me, so what else are you feeling?” Emily turned around.

“Is she okay?” Luna shook her head, hands still on your face she turned to Emily.

“Somethings wrong, really wrong.” Emily loosened her hand off her gun, making her way closer to you. You could feel yourself drifting off, but luna lightly tapped your right cheek. “No, look at me, you gotta stay awake just a little longer. Just until we can get you checked out by a doctor. I could help you, but not that great given my state.”

“We’ve got paramedics on the way. Trying to clear the club without alarming him, can you keep her standing on the way out?” Luna nodded. “Alright, I’ll have an agent meet you at the exit, make sure the two of you are safe.” You were using all your might to not collapse onto Luna, as she held you tightly.

“Thank you so much, Emily, I mean Agent.” Emily gave Luna a sly smile.

“Anytime, as long as we stop meeting like this.” You smiled even though tomorrow you were sure that you wouldn’t remember any bit of this. Still, slipping in and out of consciousness, you kept thinking about if Spencer was maybe there too. You wouldn’t want him to see you like this, but you just wish you could catch a glimpse of him. But then, you blacked out. Well your vision blacked out and all you could hear was sirens, Luna trying to keep you awake, and at the very last minute a gunshot.

✎ ✎ ✎

_Saturday - 2:15 PM_

“We’re staying local this time around,” Spencer looked through the case files once more before glancing up to Garcia. “If only it were under better circumstances. Four young women have been found wandering the streets by local authorities, all with no memories of how they ended up there, and all with signs of sexual assault.”

“Did the doctors run tests for GHB?” Penelope nodded, pressing her clicking revealing photos of the victims' wounds.

“Yes. Each victim appears to have been drugged, but the most recent, a Lorraine Weston, has the most coherent memories of the attack.”

“So it’s possible that the unsub mis-dosed Lorraine?” JJ chimed in, closing her case file.

“Actually, when the test were ran, Lorraine didn’t have any of the typical ‘date rape’ drugs in her system. She told police that she recalls feeling lightheaded, but she was out partying so chalked it up to alcohol.” Spencer looked to see Rossi furrowing his brows.

“The victimology isn’t making any sense to me,” Prentiss lifted her pen in agreement. “Besides the fact they are all in their late 20’s, these women don’t have anything else in common.”

“I want Reid and Prentiss to speak with the three other victims, Morgan and Rossi with Lorraine. JJ, you’ll come with me to the station, gather more information from the local P.D.” The team rose from their seats, heading out of the building.

“So, Reid, what's the news with your pen-pal?” Derek spoke inside the elevator, earning the attention of Hotch.

“Reid has a pen-pal?” Spencer hasn’t been embarrassed by this, but out of all of the people he wanted to share this with, Hotch wasn’t one of them.

“Yeah, it’s been really cute. He gets so nervous talking about her.” Emily smiled when she spoke.

“That’s good, I hope it works out.” Spencer smiled, muttering a small ‘thank you' when they stepped out of the building.

✎ ✎

Spencer and the team had spent most of Saturday trying to put the pieces together that connected the victimology. They had traced that all of the young women were out partying and can remember getting drinks, but that’s about it. Lorraine Weston was also out but didn’t feel any symptoms of being drugged, but she did remember leaving with a man named Noah.

“Noah Preston, 25, grew up relatively happy and healthy,” Penelope said over the phone. “That was until his junior year of high school when his mother, Eliza, was found assaulted and left in her car. His dad, James, fell apart after the assault, blaming it on Noah’s mother that she was assaulted. Noah dealt with that by getting into fights at school, stealing from local stores, and eventually dropping out.”

“What happened to him after that? Any jobs? Last known residence?” Derek questioned, leaning over the desk at the station.

“Oh hot stuff, I was way way way ahead of you on that one, sent them to you already.” Derek scoffed.

“Thank you, baby girl.”

“Currently employed at Vipers, but before that, he had been fired from several jobs for sexual misconduct. Only been employed at Vipers for two months. No current residence on file.” Spencer read aloud, reading more on Noah’s life.

“The first victim’s assault happened in his first week of employment. He searches for his perfect victim while serving drinks, now the question is when does he put the drugs in. If he puts them in the drinks, what are the chances that it’s not for someone else?” Prentiss speaks.

“I want to get a team at the club tonight, last Saturday was when he attacked Lorraine. Morgan, Prentiss, and Rossi I want all of us to take a team of officers there tonight, take note of his behavior and try to keep track of as many people he gives drinks to,” They nodded in response. “JJ and Reid, you stay here and try to dig up more on his living and history.”

✎ ✎

“Spence, what’s on your mind? You’ve been distant all day?” JJ questioned. Spencer looked at JJ, not wanting to fall apart over anything. For the most part, he felt perfectly fine, just not great.

“Nothing, I’m fine I swear.” The blonde scoffed at him.

“Y’know you can’t lie to me.”

“Thought we didn’t profile each other.” Another scoff.

“It’s hard not to when the person you aren’t supposed to profile is so obvious.” Finally, Spencer put his work down.

“Look, JJ, I appreciate that you’re looking out for me, I really do, but I’m okay. Just trying to focus on the case and the last victim. Something isn’t making sense.” Spencer kept thinking back to the other and Lorraine being the only one not drugged.

“What is it?”

“Lorraine told Morgan that Noah approached her when she was outside, but from what we profiled, Noah wouldn’t make the first move on a woman. He’d be too worried and mess it up. She is the only victim to not have any trace of drugs in her system.” JJ looked towards the board they had put together earlier in the day.

“Goes out drinking at a club on a Saturday, alone. We need to have Garcia check if Lorraine and Noah had any prior connection before this and alert Hotch that there’s a slim chance we’re dealing with a partnership.” Spencer nods, picking up his phone to call Penelope.

“Tech-wizard to boy genius, whaddya need?”

“We need you to check if our last victim and Noah ever crossed paths and everything you can find on Lorraine Weston.”

“Can do.” A few minutes pass before Penelope speaks again, the soft sounds of her keyboard coming through the phone. “Alright so Lorraine Weston does not exist, but Lorie West does. Lorie and Noah lived in the same building for three years, not much of a relationship, but a few of the residents in their building reported small things going missing when they would go away for work. No one was ever arrested for the thefts. Noah moved away, but it looks like Lorie followed him.” Spencer could hear JJ on the phone with Hotch, repeating the information from Penelope to him.

“What does Lorie’s past look like?”

“It was a rocky one. Lorie’s father left her and her mother to fend for themselves. Lorie’s mother took up sex work, but used her house for business, exposing Lorie to some pretty horrible people from the jump. At 13, Lorie was put into the foster care system, jumping from house to house till she was 17 when she ran away. It says here that she was removed from the homes for inappropriate behavior, but one of the many foster parents was arrested for assaulting other children.”

“She spent most of her life being abused and when she tried to actually speak out, she wasn’t being listened to,” JJ mentioned from behind Spencer. “So after she ran away, she somehow ended up in the same place as Noah. A man too afraid to even look at her, but clearly repressed. They form a team, but to allow him to assault the women just doesn’t make any sense. Why would she want that?”

“Unless she doesn’t know. Each woman had all of their cash and debit cards taken from them. What if Noah tells Lorie that he’s just using them for their cash? The drugging is just a precaution. Lorie scouts women who seem willing to splurge on drinks tells Noah, and when he feels they fit his desire he attacks. She’s just in it for money.” Spencer’s mouth hangs open before quickly dialing Hotch.

“Hotchner.”

“Lorie doesn’t know about the assaults, but she should be there to help him scout for victims with money. If you tell her about what Noah has done to the other women and she might help up.” Spencer noted.

“Thank you, Reid, JJ, and thank you, Garcia. Reid, you and JJ continue looking through his information to figure out if we can get a possible place of living.”

“Will do, Hotch, good luck out there.” JJ spoke calmly. Once the call was ended, Spencer tried to piece together what he had read about where Lorie and Noah had been together at the same time. They only ended up in the D.C. area twice in their lives, but it had appeared before they were said to have known each other.

Spencer’s mind couldn’t help but wonder how many times you and he could have crossed paths without even wondering. How long would it take for the two of you to meet? Not some forced meeting brought on by your friends, but a genuine first meeting. How many letters before he could see your smile? He imagined that you had a really beautiful smile. The kind that just gives anyone it’s directed at a warm feeling inside, but for now, it was all he could do. Imagine things with you. He was too worried you’d never like him too much when you really met him. Spencer was pulled out of his thoughts when his phone started ringing, not being able to greet the caller before they spoke.

“Hey, Reid, your pen-pal friend was targeted by the unsub, but from what I know she is safe and we’ve got Lorie,” Emily spoke calmly to Spencer. He was worried for you but relieved that this case could almost be over. Even then he was spiraling with thoughts of how he was at the club you could have met. Even if the circumstances weren’t fitting.

“Uh, okay I think. I mean it’s good you got Lorie, but are you sure that y/n’s safe?” Spencer knew that his voice was cracking, but it didn’t matter. Someone he was beginning to care about could have gotten hurt. It’s happened many times before and the reality is, it will continue to happen.

“I had Morgan escort her outside until paramedics could arrive. She’s safe Spencer, I promise.” A sigh of relief before he could hear the gunshot through the phone. 


End file.
